Theodore hollander



No. 620,|3l. Patented Feb. 28, I899.

T. HOLLANDEB. v

SKIRT PLAGKET FASTENER.

A lication filed Feb. 16, 1898.)

(No Model.)

W/ TNESS m M; 0m

A TTORNEY NITED STATES THEODORE HOLLANDER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 620,131, dated February 28, 1899.

Application filed February 16, 1898.- Serial No. 670,488. (No model.)

-T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEODORE HOLLANDER, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, county and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Skirt-Placket Fastener, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide a means for closing and fastening together the sides of the plackets of skirts to avoid the objectionable gaping of this part of skirts as now made and worn. The means devised by me for this purpose is of such a nature that the placket of a skirt to which it is applied will be closed when the skirt is applied and the waistband secured around the waist of the wearer and securely fastened by the weight of the skirt suspended from the Waistband.

The invention consists, essentially, of a guide applied to each side of the placket, each guide being secured at one end to the lower end of the placket and at the other end to its respective side of the placket, about midway of the length thereof, a sliding loop device constructed and arranged to embrace the two guides, and a cord or wire connecting said loop device to the upper end of one side of the placket. Y

The invention also embraces auxiliary devices, as hooks, for attaching the upper ends of the guides to the sides of the placket and adapted to receive the loop device when it is raised into its uppermost position to positively hold the placket closed. The arrangement of the parts is such that when the placket is fully opened for the application of the skirt to a person the loop device is caused to slide down the guides toward their lower ends at the juncture of the two sides of the placket, the loop-suspending cord, which is preferably elastic, conserving to this end, thus leaving the opening of the skirt unobstructed. When the ends of the band are brought together in applying the skirt, then the loop device by its elastic cord is caused to slide up the guides to their upper ends at the central part of the sides of the placket and over the hooks, when such are used, thereby securely fastening the sides of the placket together, the garment by its weight hanging from the lower end of the placket of the guides.

holding the sides of the placket straight for the free sliding action of the loop on the guides at such time.

To describe my invention more particularly, I will now refer to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 illustrates the upper part of a skirt, showing the placket held closed by means of my automatic placket fastener which is applied thereto. Fig. 2 shows the placket partly open, with the loop locking device a short distance below the upper ends Fig. 3 shows the placket fully open, with the loop lockin g device at the lower ends of the guides; and Fig. 4 is a view of the improved placket-fastener detached and on an enlarged scale.

In the preferred form of my automatic placket-fastener I use two hooks a and a, (shown at Fig. 4,) formed of sheetmetal, each having a plate a suitably perforated for attachment to the placket. The upper parts of the hooks where they extend from the plates are formed with reenterin g recesses,and their lower ends or points are provided with sockets, which may be done by bending or folding the metal'at this part of the hooks into cylindrical form with its bore extending from the extreme end along the axis of the hook to open out at one side thereof, said bore being made larger at its upper opening than at its lower end at the point of the hook, for the reason presently described. These hooks may be made of wire instead of sheet metal, suitable sockets or their equivalents being formed in the ends in such manner as would suggest itself to the manufacturer. The only other piece of metal of this construction of my placket-fastener is the sliding loop device I), here shown as formed of a piece of wire, bent to embrace the hooks a a, so as to hold them together, as shown at Fig. 4, and to close and fasten the placket, as shown at Fig. 1, and to slide up and down on the guides c c, which are attached to the hooks a a. The loop device is formed with an eye I) at the end of its upwardly-extending shank to provide means for the attachment to the loop device of the cord cl, which by its other end is secured to the upper end of one side of the placket, and which, for reasons hereinafter stated, it is desirable to make of an elastic material.

For the guides c c a suitable cord is used. They may beheld in the sockets of the hooks a a by knots formed at their upper ends and drawn down into the upper openings of the sockets, or the sides of the sockets may be indented to grip the cords, or any other suitable method may be employed to attach the cords c c to the hooks a a, so long as each cord forms a continuation of its hooks, so that the loop device I) can slide freely from one to the other without obstruction. Continuous wires or rods may be substituted for the cords and hooks; but it is thought the cord guides are better adapted for the purpose of this invention.

This fastener is of a nature to be readily applied to the placket of new or old skirts, one of the hooks, as a, being passed through the inside lap e of the placket about midway of its length and attached thereto at the inside of the skirt f, and the other hook a secured by sewing to the inside of the outer lap e of the placket, so as to be adjacent to the hook at when the placket is closed, the lower ends of the guides c 0 being attached to the lower end of the placket after the loop I) is placed over them.

The upper end of the elastic cord 61 is then se-' cured to or near the upper end of one side of the placket, as the outerlap c, said elastic cord being of such a length as to hold the loop I) in the reenterin g recesses of the hooks a and a, when the skirt is applied, as shown at Fig. 1 and also at Fig. 4, and at such time all parts of the device are protected and unseen. The skirt-band g is shown provided with an ordinary hook and eye for securing it. The central parts of the sides of the placket are thus by the loop 19 holding the books a and a positively together prevented from gapping and the placket securely fastened, this desirable feature being accomplished when the skirt is put on and the band secured around the waist of the wearer. Upon removing the skirt the loop 1) falls away from the hooks a ct, when the band g is unfastened and the upper end of the side 6 of the placket allowed to fall down slightly, as shown at Fig. 2, the loop I) sliding down the guides c and c as the waistopening is fully extended, with both sides 6 e of the placket stretched out, as shown at Fig. 3. The cord d by reason of its elasticity permits of the parts occupying the position they are shown in in this view and allows the whole gap provided by the placket to be utilized in increasing the skirt-opening when the band is unfastened.

I I claim as my invention- 1. In a fastening device designed to be applied to the placket of an article of dress the waistband of which is provided with a fastening device, as a hook and eye, the combination of two guide-cords equal in length to about half the length of the placket and each adapted to be secured by one of its ends to one side of the placket at the central part thereof and by its other end to the lower end of the placket, a loop device formed to embrace the two guide-cords and to slide thereon, and a cord connected by one of its ends to the loop device and by its other end to the upper end of one side of the placket, the length of this connecting-cord being such as to hold the loop device at the upper ends of the guide-cords when the sides of the placket to which the fastening device is applied are brought together.

2. In aplacket-fastener, in combination, the placket of an article of dress the waistband of which is provided with a fastening device, as a hook and eye, a hook secured to each side of the placket about midway of its length, guide-cords attached to the ends of the hooks and to the lower end of the placket and constitutin g extensions of the hook, and an elastic cord or band connected by one of its ends permanently to the upper end of one of the sides of the placket, a fastening-loop secured to the other end of the elastic band and formed to slide on the guide-cords and over the hooks, said elastic cord being of such a length as to hold the fastening-loops on the two hooks when the placket is closed.

THEODORE HOLLANDER.

W'itnesses:

ARTHUR O. BLATZ, LoUIs WEISBERG. 

